The following is an invitation to our best and brightest individuals and/or organizations to discuss the feasibility of a systematic effort TOGETHER to help make ourselves equal citizens of this great nation.

We did Patchwork to advance or defend our civil rights in the past

We were inexperienced, small and weak. So patchwork was the only option. Examples are:

1. In 1982, Vincent Chen, a Chinese-Am was taken to be a Japanese

Am by 2 white unemployed Detroit auto workers. They beat him to death with a baseball bat while uttering racial slurs. Both pleaded guilty, but were initially fined $3000 and sentenced to 3 years in probation only;

2. The 1988 Japanese Redress Movement: It resulted in an apology by

Congress & restitution of $25,000 per internee;

3. In 1992, the LA riots caused by the murder of Rodney King hit Koreatown hard. 2,300 Korean shops were looted. Many Koreans defended their homes and shops with arms;

4. In 1996, the Asiagate fundraising scandals for Pres. Clinton broke. The 2 major political parties and the national media all attacked the AsAm community severely, as if there was an AsAm cabal to undermine our election system. In reality, only a dozen AsAms were involved;

80-20 was established in 1998 to counter the repressive air of the time

5. From 1999 to 2006, the Wen Ho Lee spy episode occurred;

6. After 9/11/2001, not only Sikhs but all Indian-Ams felt they had to lie low, especially those who sported beards or looked like middle-eastern men;

12. In 2018, 80-20 worked with SFFA (Students for Fair Admissions) and

AACE (AsAm Coalition in Edu) to induce Harvard to change its

admissions policy to be fairer to AsAm applicants.

Patchwork was necessary to advance or defend our civil rights in the past, but it is no substitute for systemic and long-term effort that a powerful AsAm organization can provide to win EQUAL citizenship for the 18 million AsAms

Let's Think Big and Long-Term NOW!

Do you agree with the assertion in the above box? Since we are the best educated, the community with the highest per person and per family income, and yet are the least equal, should we do more for ourselves & our children?

Let's discuss what we'll need to establish a powerful AsAm org. to systematically lift ourselves by our boots to EQUAL citizenship? We may